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Fifth Week of Easter John 15:18-21 Friends, in today’s Gospel, Jesus warns us to expect persecution. But do not be afraid, because in Jesus Christ, we are connected to the very power of God, to that which is here and now creating the universe. No matter how much violence and mayhem is going on, we have a place of safety. How wonderfully Jesus expresses this: "Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul." The body passes, but the soul, that place where you are in contact with the living God, lasts forever. So...

Australian voters have delivered a sharp rebuke to the center-right government, ending nine years of conservative rule, in favor of the center-left opposition that promised stronger action on climate change. Australian Labor Party leader Anthony Albanese appeared certain to form a minority government, though it was unclear as counting continued if the party would have enough seats for a majority, according to projections from three news networks. Parties need a majority of 76 seats to form a majority government. Labor is currently sitting on around 70, according to the Australian Electoral Commission. Early counting showed a strong swing towards Greens...

COVID-19 cases are on the rise, but many Americans are over thinking of the virus as a crisis. Even in blue cities, restaurants are packed with people, and many Americans don’t wear masks even on the subway or on airplanes. Amid this national attitude, it may be extremely difficult for local or national leaders to try to reimpose any COVID-19 restrictions.

from DNR head Pushilin: There are foreign mercenaries among the surrenderers. Six Azov fighters died on the last day of planned surrender, as they detonate remaining ammunitions. In all 2,439 personnel have been processed. 78 of the surrenderers are female. {This is in addition to the 1398 that had surrendered in earlier days at Ilyich plant, largely marines, for a total of 3837}

President Biden has borrowed a page right out of Vladimir Putin’s playbook. As someone who was raised in the USSR, I am all too familiar with the tactic of divisive, inflammatory rhetoric and scapegoating that the Soviet government used to foment hatred among its own citizens in order to keep permanent control. As a former DIA intelligence officer who specializes in Russian affairs and Putin’s doctrine, I am stunned at how adept the Democrats have become at Soviet-style tactics.

In remarks on the Senate floor Thursday, Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) spoke about why he was blocking a $40 billion Ukraine bill. Floor speech... [5 mins]

--(snip) As of 2021, the United States had the 32nd-highest rate of deaths from gun violence in the world, according to the latest information culled by NPR using data from the University of Washington's Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME), which, according to its website, "tracks lives lost in every country, in every year, by every possible cause of death." In 2019, the latest full year for which information has been made available, the United States saw 3.96 gun-related deaths per 100,000 people. That's 100 times more gun-related deaths than in the United Kingdom, where access to guns by...

Our conversation about abortion places the burden of responsibility on women. I argue men are the root cause. As a mother of six and a Mormon, I have a good understanding of arguments surrounding abortion, religious and otherwise. When I hear men discussing women’s reproductive rights, I’m often left with the thought that they have zero interest in stopping abortion. If you want to prevent abortion, you need to prevent unwanted pregnancies. Men seem unable (or unwilling) to admit that they cause 100% of them. I realize that’s a bold statement. You’re likely thinking, “Wait. It takes two to tango!”...

The Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., was shut down Saturday morning after a crowd of seniors from Georgetown University left broken bottles and spilled wine on the monument's steps. Hundreds of students had gathered to watch the sunrise Saturday after the senior ball on Friday. A few took a dip in the Reflecting Pool. The National Park Service announced a brief delay in accessibility to the Lincoln Memorial, saying the group had left debris in the area

Despite polls indicating that 80 percent of Americans feel the country is headed in the wrong direction, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif) insists that “America wants Democrats to win the November elections. Joe Biden has been a great President. I can’t think of anyone who would be more suited to lead us in these perilous times of runaway inflation, rising crime, and war. As this truth sinks in voters will help solidify our party’s control of Congress so Republicans can be prevented from blocking further progress.” “Now that a monkey pox pandemic is about to hit I’m confident that the...

“‘“Your kingdom come”’” (Matthew 6:10). It is obvious that Christ is not physically ruling on earth today, but one day He will. Therefore we should pray that God would hasten that time when His Son returns to establish His earthly kingdom, defeat sin, and ensure obedience to God’s will. After a thousand years, this kingdom will merge into the eternal kingdom, and His earthly and heavenly rule will be the same (see Rev. 20–21). There are two major ways in which God’s kingdom comes, and they ought to inform our prayers as we ask Him to complete His purpose. First,...

Senate Democrats on Thursday introduced an ambitious new gun control legislation that would require all Americans to obtain a Department of Justice (DOJ) license with a 5-year limit before purchasing a single gun. The new bill would also give the government the power to confiscate guns if the license is revoked. This new legislation was introduced by Sens. Cory Booker (D-NJ), Bob Menendez (D-NJ), and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn). ....... Snip........ The bill also authorizes “procedures to ensure that any firearm is removed from any individual when the individual’s license is revoked.” Confiscated firearms would only be returned to the owner...

The mining company that wants to extract a rare heat-resistant element from the ground under southeast Nebraska says a new report shows the deposit it plans to mine holds a significant amount of other rare elements. NioCorp Developments said Thursday that the latest analysis shows the amount of rare earth elements present where it plans to build the mine about 80 miles south of Omaha near the town of Elk Creek is the second-largest deposit in the United States. The Centennial, Colorado-based company estimates that there are 632.9 kilotons of rare earth elements there. Those elements are needed to make...

May 20 (UPI) -- A proposed new Russian law doing away with soldier age restrictions suggests the country is struggling to sustain military troop requirements for its war on Ukraine. Two members of the United Russia Party introduced the proposed law. Andrey Kartapolov, head of the Russian state Duma, co-authored the bill with his deputy Andrey Krasov to allow people over 40 to join the military. Russians aged 18-40 and foreigners aged 18-30 can sign up for military contracts now. Russians older than 40 would be able to sign up for first military contracts under the proposed law, according to...

Tianjin, COVID, and Losing Chinese Labor by Peter Zeihan on May 21, 2022 Several signs point to THE possibility of Chinese officials instituting at least a partial lockdown of the northern port city of Tianjin as early as this weekend. The largest northern Chinese port, Tianjin is also a city of over 12 million people, and its port is vital for delivering goods--bulk ores, coal, liquid fuels--for the region's heavy industries and textile manufacturing. The Omicron variant has already been detected in the city, notably in the Beichen and Dongli districts, where local health officials mandated localized testing and quarantine...

@seanhannity The Republican party owes it to Americans to not just describe the problem, but fix it @LindseyGrahamSC Segment...

China’s most powerful bombers circled U.S. military bases in Okinawa, Japan, on Wednesday, according to Chinese state-run media Thursday. A pair of China’s H-6J bombers crossed between two of the largest islands of Okinawa Prefecture, Japan, where the U.S has multiple military installations, before circling in the region, Global Times reported. The bombers likely coordinated with the Liaoning aircraft carrier group, which has been conducting drills in the region since May 2, according to the report. The military exercise featuring China’s “most powerful bombers” was a “rehearsal for keeping foreign forces from interfering in the Taiwan question” and sent “a...

Fighting has sharply escalated in eastern Ukraine’s Donbas region. Both sides are bringing in more and heavier artillery, adding to the carnage. But it’s the Russians who have the biggest guns and mortars—and who are most willing to shoot indiscriminately. “In the coming weeks, Russia is likely to continue to rely heavily on massed artillery strikes as it attempts to regain momentum in its advance in the Donbas,” the U.K. Defence Ministry warned on Tuesday. The Russian army for weeks has been trying to position forces for an operation it realistically can complete. Earlier in the war, the Kremlin’s aims...

he world’s political and business elite will hobnob in Davos next week after a two-year break caused by Covid, with the Ukraine war set to dominate the exclusive Swiss mountain summit. The world has changed drastically since the last time the World Economic Forum took place in person at the ski resort in January 2020. At the time, US President Donald Trump and climate campaigner Greta Thunberg headlined the show and the coronavirus had yet to spread widely outside China. U.S. and Ukrainian attendees outnumber those coming from other leading nations, which includes just three from the United Kingdom, France,...

Pennsylvania mail ballots submitted without a date on the envelope last year should be counted, a federal appeals court said Friday, a ruling that could mean thousands more votes get counted in elections moving forward — starting with this past Tuesday’s primary. The ruling will also almost certainly reignite the smoldering political fight over undated mail ballots; create new questions and pressure for county elections officials as they continue to count votes from this week’s primary; and create another potential opening for county-by-county legal challenges as the Senate Republican primary heads toward a likely recount.